Last September I took a job with a nonprofit start-up focused on training and consulting in the domain that I had served as a practitioner for many years.

Last September I took a job with a nonprofit start-up focused on training and consulting in the domain that I had served as a practitioner for many years. I had a considerable amount of experience and responsibility in my prior role, including supervising staff and budgetary oversight. I also have deep familiarity with the nonprofit itself, as I had taken trainings with them in the past. I was very excited about the role since it would allow me to be a bit more intellectually engaged with my practice - so excited that I took a significant pay cut to take the position. The executive director is a huge proponent of collaboration, so I was expecting a lot of day-to-day interaction and rapid feedback on projects that I am working on. I also expected to have a fair bit of a say in strategic-level decisions.

Unfortunately, I've found myself with an indecisive micromanager who is overly focused on creating standard operating procedures and documentation for everything we do. Ironically, we never seem to follow these processes because she's constantly holding things up! She also has a tendency to ignore me right before an important deadline which has caused embarrassing situations with clients.

I was so disappointed (and anxious) with how things were going, that I actually tried to resign within my first few months, but she convinced me to stay. Since then another staff member was hired and left - they privately told me she was experiencing similar challenges with the executive director as I was.

I tend to be an overachiever but have found myself completely disengaged. I have difficulty focusing and maintaining motivation about projects that last year sounded like a dream job. This is making me feel that I'm not doing enough or taking enough initiative to make this position work.

Should I cut my losses and start looking elsewhere? I feel like I'm being set-up to fail.